A variety of playing surfaces require leveling in order to permit proper movement of playing pieces thereon. Certain games, such as billiards and pool and the like, are very sensitive to proper leveling in order to fairly allow the balls to travel on the surface. Specifically, the preferred playing surface of a billiard or pool table is a smooth, horizontal slab of slate up to six by nine feet in width and length and from three quarters to one inch thick. The weight of this slab (apart from that substantial structure and frame to support it) can weigh up to 900 pounds.
The billiard sports comprise sports using a cue and a table for individual games such as billiards, pool, carom, and snooker, where tables for carom and snooker are generally larger than the pool table.
The width of slates for these tables can be shorter than six feet, the length can be longer than nine feet, the thickness can be thinner or thicker than one inch. Some pool tables comprise a slate with a thickness of around one and one fourth inches. For the snooker and carom tables, the width, the length, the thickness are much different than for a pool table, where the thickness for snooker and carom tables are often at 45 mm, 50 mm, or 60 mm.
the slates size could be any width, any length, any thickness.
The slate slab may be provided in a single piece or in a number of pieces which are positioned side by side on top of a support frame, typically having two horizontal, lengthwise outer sections joined with multiple cross pieces, where the support frame is thereby supported by at least four sturdy legs. It is common that, for the purposes of maintaining a level playing surface for pool or billiard balls, the playing surface of the slate slab is generally not level with respect to the overall frame, or it is locally not level with respect to horizontal portions of the slate slab.
Such local variations in leveling of the slate slab is predictable, in that the pool table support frame is usually made of some type of wood, which expands and contracts with humidity and compresses differentially across its horizontal support structure over years of support not only the weight of the slate slab, but also the constant upper body compression applied to it by pool players, which compression is most likely to be greatest in a central area of the slate slab.
There is a need for a carefully distributed set of leveling devices across the underside surface of the slate slab easily operable to perform local leveling of small portions of the horizontal sections of a pool table, but which are also have increased density of leveling devices across a central section of the slate slab.